Lewis v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y of the United States
Minnesota Supreme Court
389 N.W.2d 876 (1986)
Carole Lewis and several coworkers (plaintiffs), dental-claim approvers for Equitable Life Assurance Society (the Company) (defendant), were sent on temporary assignments with only vague travel-expense guidance and a lump-sum advance; after fully spending the advance and being commended on their work, they were later asked to submit detailed expense reports, revised the reports twice at the Company's direction, then refused further changes when the Company gave them yet another entirely new set of guidelines. The Company fired them for gross insubordination, and when the plaintiffs sought new jobs, prospective employers required them to explain why they'd left, forcing them to disclose the "gross insubordination" reason and making it harder to find new work. The plaintiffs sued for defamation, a jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages, and the court of appeals affirmed liability; the Company sought review.
Whether, for defamation, the publication requirement may be satisfied if the plaintiff was compelled to publish a defamatory statement to a third party, where it was foreseeable to the defendant that the plaintiff would be so compelled.